IN BRIEF (Page 8)

France

Strasbourg attack suspect killed

The man that the authorities believe killed three people during a rampage near a Christmas market in Strasbourg died on Thursday in a shootout with police at the end of a two-day manhunt, authorities said. The Paris prosecutor's office identified the man killed in the eastern French city as 29-year-old Cherif Chekatt, a Strasbourg-born man with a long history of convictions for various crimes, including robberies. Five people have been arrested in connection with the investigation.

United States

Wave of hoax bomb threats across nation

A wave of bomb threats emailed on Thursday to hundreds of schools, businesses and government buildings across the United States triggered searches, evacuations and fear but there were no signs of explosives, and authorities said that the scare appeared to be a crude extortion attempt. Some of the emails had the subject line: "Think Twice". They were sent from a spoof email address. The sender claimed to have had an associate plant a small bomb in the recipient's building and that the only way to stop him from setting it off was by making an online payment of $20,000 in Bitcoin.

India

13 feared dead in flooded 'rat hole' mine

At least 13 miners were feared dead after being trapped by flooding in an illegal "rat hole" coal mine site in remote northeastern India, police said on Friday. Dozens of emergency workers were pumping water out of a large trench that was flooded early on Thursday near a river in mineral-rich Meghalaya state.

Ap - Xinhua - Afp

(China Daily 12/15/2018 page8)